In 2016, the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies and Marquette University joined a collaborative of universities and organizations who made an active commitment to invest in research and scholarship on the lives of women and girls of color.

The Center and Marquette University committed to funding one post-doctoral fellow in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department and providing funds for the Research Initiative Grant, which supports projects that examine this population. The Center’s post-doctoral fellow, Heather Montes Ireland has agreed to stay for a second year.

The center has announced a request for proposals from Marquette University faculty, and faculty-led teams in conjunction with staff, students, and local community members that examine issues and concerns facing women and girls of color in the United Sates, and in particular, the Midwest.

Depending on the project and available funds, the Research Initiative Grant will provide between $10,000 to $100,000 overall for the selected projects.

“Our Center’s participation in this collective fits squarely within not only the mission of the CGSS but also the mission of Marquette University — to advance work and research that addresses the needs and concerns of marginalized groups in an effort to help contribute to a more socially just world. Thus far, we have been able to use funds to support a postdoctoral fellow as well as just recently distributed a request for proposals to provide funding for research on women and girls of color for Marquette faculty, staff, students, and local community members.”

Angelique Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies